


fly me to the moon

by such_heights



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Episode: s06e02 Day of the Moon, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-31
Updated: 2011-05-31
Packaged: 2017-10-19 23:15:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/206275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/such_heights/pseuds/such_heights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the moon landing, Canton comes home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fly me to the moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pocky_slash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocky_slash/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Next of Kin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/854691) by [pocky_slash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocky_slash/pseuds/pocky_slash). 



> this is a birthday story for pocky_slash! ♥ And, okay, I was writing her a Canton story anyway when she posted her wonderful backstory piece, [Next of Kin](http://pocky-slash.livejournal.com/1533962.html). And I thought, hmm, that fits rather well with what I was planning. I emailed mcwonthelottery to see if she thought Kait would mind if I borrowed her character/universe, and got the go-ahead. So this is both a stand-alone story and an unofficial sequel to Next of Kin. David is pocky_slash's creation, I am just borrowing him.

Canton lets the front door shut behind him as quietly as he can. It's well past midnight, so the light on in the kitchen is a surprise. With a guilty start, he realises he doesn't even know what shifts David's been working. Well, if he's awake, then that's good news. The Silence are finally gone, and so is the Doctor, and they really need to talk.

David's sat at the kitchen table, an empty whiskey tumbler taking up the only surface not covered by files and books. He glances up as Canton walks in. "Oh. Hi."

"Listen," says Canton, just as David says, "Look."

Canton swallows. "You first."

David finds a bookmark and shuts his book. "If you're going to leave me, could you get on with it already?"

Canton feels blindsided. He'd expected David to be pissed, and rightly so, but he hadn't seen that coming. "What?"

"I don't mind the long hours and the fact you can't talk about whatever case you're working on - I'm a doctor, I get it. But something's been up with you for months and then, what, you figured you'd just leave a note on the fridge saying that you were going to be away with work and you didn't know how long for? That was pretty shitty of you. So I just figured -- if you're gearing up to leave, you could at least do the decent thing and do it quickly."

"Christ." Canton rubs his face, worried he's going to be too tired to do this conversation justice. "Okay. You're right, I've been shit the past few months. But not for the reason you think. I'm not going to ask you to excuse it, but I can explain, and it might help." He tries on a smile. "Give me five minutes?"

David's mouth twitches, and he taps his glass. "Get me a refill, and you can have as long as you want."

Canton goes to fetch the bottle and another glass from the cabinet, and wonders whether to start with the alien invasion or the time machine that was bigger on the inside.

He sits down. "So I met this guy - and no, not like that - called the Doctor. You'd like him. And I helped him save the world."

David looks dubious, but Canton keeps talking, and by the time the sun is coming up and a lot of the whiskey has gone, David admits that the odds of Canton making something like this up are basically zero.

"Aliens and spaceships and time travel. Huh." David looks at his files reflectively. "Work's going to seem dull after this."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I'm back at the office on Monday."

"So they're really letting you go back to the Bureau permanently after that little fiasco that got you kicked out in the first place?"

"Yep. No one's happy about it, but when have any of them ever liked me anyway. Turns out the Doctor's a persuasive character reference." Canton laughs. "God, I'm glad you know now. Looks like all those space stories you love were onto something after all."

"That's the other thing - how is it fair that I'm the science fiction reader and you're the one who gets to meet aliens?" David sighs, mock put-upon. Truthfully, he's never envied the more dangerous parts of Canton's life - the hospital's always held excitement enough. But still, _aliens_ , he can't deny he's a little jealous.

"I'll be sure to introduce you next time," Canton promises. "Now are you coming to bed or what?"

+

Summer turns to fall, and there's a distinct crispness in the air on the day that David spots the blue box on the sidewalk across the street.

"Oh, you're kidding me," he says, as three people pile out and head straight for his front door.

It's easy enough to distinguish which one's which from Canton's descriptions, and David finds himself opening the door to the Doctor, Amy and Rory, both worried and a little excited.

"Hullo!" says the Doctor, and huh, Canton hadn't mentioned the part where aliens sound painfully British. "You must be the boyfriend."

"Uh," says David, because there's no good way to answer that on his doorstep at four o'clock on a Saturday afternoon.

Rory elbows the Doctor in the ribs. "What the Doctor means is, is Canton home?"

Canton is visiting his dad, damn him. David's not sure he's up to handling this by himself. "No, but he'll back soon. You'd better come in." It beats having them talk about his private life where the neighbours could hear, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to kill Canton when he gets home.

"Sorry about him," Rory says as they step inside, jabbing a finger at the Doctor. "He's not always very good at historical context."

"Or social niceties. Or using his inside voice," Amy adds.

"Right," David says slowly. "So, you're the alien with the time machine and his two newlywed friends from the future?" The three of them beam at him. "Yeah, okay. I'm going to make coffee."

+

"What the hell you three doing here?" is the first thing Canton says when he gets home, which is a relief, as David hasn't quite been able to ask the question.

"Canton!" the Doctor jumps up and hugs him. Canton looks quite pleased about the fact, but David decides he can't exactly hold it against him if he's developed a bit of a crush on some mega-heroic time-travelling world-saving type.

"We were just in the neighbourhood," the Doctor continues, "well, sort of - actually, no, not at all. Anyway! Neighbourhood is a relative term. Point is, we were wondering whether you fancied coming on a little trip with us."

"And by 'little trip', you mean..." Canton says.

"Time! Space! Adventure!" The Doctor beams at him. "David, you're very welcome too. You'll be back before anyone even knows you're gone, I promise."

Canton looks over at David hopefully. "What do you think? Come on, you've at least got to see his spaceship."

"Sure," says David, unable to deny the boyish thrill that goes through him at that.

They walk into the street and into the blue box. David stares around. He steps back out. He looks at the box. He walks back in again.

"You know," he says, a little dazed, "when you said it was bigger on the inside I kind of thought you were exaggerating."

"Not so much," says Canton.

"No, not so much."

+

Canton can feel David buzzing with excitement as Amy shows both of them around the TARDIS -- Canton never got much of a chance to really explore, before.

"And this is the astronomy lab," she says, pushing a door open.

It's dazzling inside, vast and cavernous and full of thousands of bright lights - stars and distant constellations and comets and things Canton doesn't recognise.

"Oh, wow," David says.

"You've done it now," Canton whispers to Amy. "We'll never get him out of here."

"Yeah, sorry," David agrees. "I'm going to have to move in. This is even cooler than the Enterprise."

Canton sighs. "We may be some time," he tells Amy, who nods and slips out.

He walks over to David, nudging his shoulder. "Hey."

David looks down from the night sky, his eyes bright with starlight. "This is amazing. All of it."

"Well, you're not so bad yourself."

"Mind if we stay here for a bit?"

"You got it." Canton lets his head fall back against David's shoulder and stares up at the sky. It seems impossible this is all inside a space ship. "You're right," he says. "It's amazing."

+

They travel to distant planets and see impossible things - green skies and talking rivers and civilizations where dolphins are the dominant species. It's bizarre and wonderful, and it's also enormously refreshing. David loves it. They go to places were social customs are so completely different that frankly, concerns about things like racial harassment are the least of his worries.

When they wind up on what might as well be called Planet of the Hippies, David feels daring and holds Canton's hand and, in front of everyone and anyone, quickly kisses him. No one seems remotely bothered, though he does catch the Doctor grinning at them. Canton's eyes are twinkling because he's a risk-seeking idiot sometimes, so David kisses him again, and it's good.

+

"Where are we this time?" Canton asks, following the Ponds out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor looks a little hesitant. "We can go somewhere else if you want. But this is a wedding planet."

"A wedding planet."

"Wedding's still a booming business all across the galaxy," the Doctor says. "Here you can get pretty much any kind of union you like - any gender, any species, any number of people. Built in renewal options after a century for some longer-lived races, and you can choose from a package ceremony drawing on some of the dominant religions of this period, or you can create your own custom one."

Canton blinks. "Doctor --"

"I know, I know. This doesn't solve anything, you're going to have all the same difficulties as soon as you get home, and I'm sorry for that. I wish I could do more, but there are some things humanity takes far, far too long to figure out. Consider this is a gesture. If you want."

David is watching them both thoughtfully.

"What do you think?" Canton asks him.

"I think I like the idea of getting space married," David says. "It sounds like fun. You in?"

Canton thinks about it. He thinks about Nixon and the Bureau and the family that won't talk to him any more. But he thinks about the Doctor, too, and the way that he's living proof that the universe is bigger, stranger, and a lot better than he's had reason to believe before. Then there's David, who's still here after twelve years, and who has apparently just proposed.

"What the hell," he says. "I'm in."


End file.
